New Moon in Capricorn: What’s Your Purpose?
The new moon in Capricorn falls on Friday 23rd December and sees the Sun and Moon align in the sign of the goat-fish, in a square aspect to Jupiter. which is poised buoyantly and optimisitically in the first degree of Aries having recently re-entered that sign, beginning a new cycle through the zodiac. As we pass through the Winter Solstice, the gateway in the year that Capricorn stands guard over, we acknowledge the return of the Light, in the depth of Winter, calling up our strength of endurance and determination to overcome hardship and commit to the long road ahead. With Jupiter making the square aspect to this new moon, we might over-estimate what is possible; if we stride out confidently with a new venture, we may overshoot the mark in some way. We might also fall prey to excess or over-indulgence with Jupiter making the square. Capricorn will tend to haul us back to reality, check the exhuberance of Jupiter in Aries’ stride, insisting that we tend to the containing vessel that holds our core purpose.
Capricorn reminds us of our duties and responsibilities, challenging us to take a stand, align ourselves to our core values, and make known our intention. Its image is of the hardy goat who stands firm in its conviction, while others cower, and carries on where others give up. And through its mysterious fish’s tail, it remembers the earliest origins of life, carried through the deep waters of the soul, life after life. Saturn-ruled Capricorn confronts you with the question: "You've come here to do something with your life, so what are you doing about it?" It is the sign that grounds is in our commitments, and takes us to task when we turn away from them. Capricorn is the third of the earth signs in the wheel - Taurus grants us our talents and resources, Virgo puts these to use in terms of useful work, while in Capricorn, it is about our experience and readiness to structure that developed capacity of the earth element and establish it as a ‘concrete assignment that demands fulfilment’, as Victor Frankl described the need for a person to acknowledge and commit to their vocation in life.
This new moon is the perfect time to re-connect with the founding motivations behind our vocation and calling. What inspires you to do what you do, and why is it so important to you? Think about your non-negotiable values, things like integrity, trust, honesty, service - to what extent are you living true to them? I personally find it useful at the Capricorn new moon to distinguish four core values and imagine them as the four pillars of a temple that house my soul and support my direction in life. I also like to imagine that this temple is aligned to the north star in which I invest my intention for the year ahead, a point of focus towards which I direct my energy.
What is your stand, and how does it support and strenghten your life's purpose? What are you willing to put your head above the parapet for, even if that risks spoiling your popularity rating or public image? This Capricorn new moon drives a hard bargain and it confronts us with some uncomfortable but necessary questions about what really matters, what we hold sacred, and what it means to act with integrity. And that begs the further question: how do we take that strong stance without using our position to build walls around us, without making ourselves impenetrable to true human connection; that which requires a much more sensitive, empathic type of engagement. Beware of the shadow side of Capricorn, encapsulated in that old goaty maxim: 'the ends justify the means'. When we give away our rights and freedoms to forms of authority who use this to justify their actions, we rarely get them back without a fight, and much of what is really meaningful in life, the soul-stuff, gets disregarded.
It is good to remember that new moons are about the sowing of new seeds, and what we initiate in the Capricorn season sets out our stall for the year ahead; like a well-thought-out 'new year's resolution', and this is a good time to set forth a longer term intention - and a strategy to go with it that lines up with our values and a grounded sense of what is achievable.
My Capricorn mantra runs: “I carry the wisdom of the elders, and the strength to complete the task I am set.”